Sunday in church it was announced that we won’t be having school on Friday because it’s Good Friday. This news was taken with a disgruntled puff of disgust by my first grader sitting beside me. She adores school and the daily activity that involves. “Staying home from school is boring!” she says. Josie hasn’t missed a day of first grade yet, so we’re crossing our fingers for perfect attendance! I perceive we’ll be noticing substantial withdrawal symptoms when school dismisses in a few weeks.

Knowing she’ll be home on Friday, I began thinking what we could do to make it special as well as teaching the real meaning of Easter.

I knew it had to be simple and not majorly time consuming. Josie loves helping with food prep so I knew she would be thrilled to help make something yummy to eat! These Resurrection Rolls is what I came up with. No, its not original with me. I’m not brainy enough to think this up myself. But they are super simple and fun to make! I also plan to have a Bible reading time with the Easter story, then explaining what each item of the rolls represents. Reece and I made these while Josie was at school. It will be a surprise for her on Friday.

Here’s what you need:

1 can refrigerated crescent rolls, 8 large marshmallows, 1/4 cup melted butter. In a small bowl, mix together 1 Tablespoon cinnamon and 1/4 cup sugar and set aside.

Use a sprinkling of flour and flatten out the crescent rolls. Dip marshmallows into butter and roll into cinnamon and sugar mixture. Roll the dough up around the marshmallow and pinch the sides well. (I had trouble with the marshmallows leaking out with some of mine.) Place in greased muffin tin. Bake at 350* for 10-11 minutes. Doubling the recipe might be a good thing- this recipe only makes 8 scrumptious rolls!

These are delicious fresh but if you let cool completely, you can add a cross on top, with white icing. I had some leftover frosting in the fridge so I simply put it in a ziploc bag, snipped off a tiny corner and squeezed it to draw the cross.

Reece had fun playing with the leftover sugar and cinnamon. I saw a drop of something wet in the bowl and asked him if he spit in it. “Yes, I didn’t like it” he said. So be sure there’s plenty of germs equally divided among the rolls! I also asked him to get a rag to clean up the frosting on the floor. He quickly volunteered to lick it up instead.

Explaining the rolls-

The marshmallow represents Jesus: He is pure and white. Sinless. Jesus never did anything wrong but there was still people who didn’t like him, so they crucified him and hung him on the cross.

Dipping the marshmallow into the butter and cinnamon mixture: Jesus’ friends and family were very sad when he died. Because they loved him, they rubbed special oils and spices on his body to prepare him to be buried.

Wrapping the marshmallow in the dough and sealing the seams: Jesus’ friends wrapped his body in special clothes to bury him in.

Place the rolls in the muffin tin: They laid Jesus’ body in a Tomb. The soldiers sealed it with a big stone and guarded it.

Baking the rolls: Jesus was in the Tomb 3 days then He rose from the dead!

Take a bite out of the rolls: And there is the empty Tomb! Praise God, Jesus arose from the dead! Now He is in heaven!

This idea may not be new to you but it was for us. I hope it’s something you can do with your children, to teach the Easter story. This would be a perfect project to do on Easter day. Or if there’s more children off school on Friday, you can have in home art classes! Be sure to include any preschoolers around home too!